A man who set himself on fire on the National Mall in the U.S. capital has died, police said Saturday.

The victim, who suffered from "significant burns throughout his body" died before 9 pm (0100 GMT) Friday, Washington Metropolitan Police spokesman Araz Alali told Agence France Presse.

A woman shot to death by police outside the Capitol building after she tried to drive through barricades outside the White House held the delusional belief that the president was communicating with her, a federal law enforcement official said Friday.

The official had been briefed on the investigation but spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel slammed Republican lawmakers Saturday as "astoundingly irresponsible" for threatening to shut down the government over a short-sighted political whim.

If Congress fails to agree on a new budget measure by the close of the fiscal year on Monday, officials estimate that about half of the Pentagon's nearly 800,000 civilian workers would be placed on unpaid leave.

With new health insurance markets launching next week, the Obama administration is unveiling premiums and plan choices for 36 states where the federal government is taking the lead to cover uninsured residents.

Before tax credits that work like an upfront discount for most consumers, sticker-price premiums for a mid-range benchmark plan will average $328 a month nationally for an individual, comparable to payments for a new car.

The FBI's new director says he supports the government's electronic surveillance program as a useful, "legal" tool, even though he opposed eavesdropping activities under ex-president George W. Bush.

Two weeks after taking over at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey said in an interview with Agence France Presse and several other news outlets that President Barack Obama's controversial spying policies were needed to counter a "metastasizing" threat from al-Qaida.

A man is facing at least 10 years in prison after acknowledging that he shot an assault rifle at the White House two years ago.

Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez pleaded guilty Wednesday to two of the 19 charges against him as a result of the November 2011 shooting. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors will drop the remaining charges. That includes the most serious charge he faced, attempting to assassinate the president, which carried a potential life sentence.

The White House was locked down in a sudden security alert Monday after a man threw firecrackers over the outer fence, sparking alarm hours after a gun massacre in Washington.

A Secret Service source confirmed to Agence France Presse that the man set off firecrackers, discounting some earlier reports that shots were fired, in a incident that scrambled heavily armed security teams at the White House.

The Obama administration is already planning "for every contingency" in case of any fallout from U.S. military strikes against the Syrian regime, a top White House official said Sunday, as a defense official said the U.S. could increase the scale of strikes as needed.

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough refused to be drawn on whether President Barack Obama would go ahead with any strikes if Congress refuses to give military action a green light, nor would he be drawn on any specifics.

A U.S. hunger striker was force fed through a nasal tube in front of the White House Friday, in a protest aimed at showing the procedure used at Guantanamo is "torture."

Weakened by his 61-day fast, Andres Thomas Conteris sat on a chair outside the White House, clad in an orange uniform, as a nutritional substance flowed through the tube into his stomach.

U.S. President Barack Obama launched an intense lobbying effort Sunday to sway skeptical lawmakers weighing whether to support a military strike against Syria.

The strategy was outlined by a senior White House official.